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Monday, August 5, 2013

Korea: Day 5 (Jeju Island)

We woke up at 6:05am and had breakfast at 7am. The hall wasn't as big as in hotels in previous posts but it was the prettiest. We will be "shopping" the whole morning then lunch then fly to Jeju island, the Hawaii of the East just like Hokkaido. It's true Jeju share alot of similarities with Hawaii; strong winds, strong waves for surfing, has a volcano, Tikiman (Dol Hareubang) and very cultural. One thing missing is hula dancers.

Omo...the deco counter just before entering the breakfast hall is so pastel. So Korean-ish!

The hall is so Korean-ish too.

We sat next to the stage which made us feel like bride and groom again. Korean wedding deco is so lovely!

Here's what we had for breakfast. There's kimchi again.

First outlet we were brought to was Korean ginseng center somewhere in Seoul. No photos allowed for all the outlets we entered. Best of all, we bought nothing except for the seaweed at the seaweed factory. Do save your money to buy other necessary and more worthy stuff.

Here's an example of a small Korean ginseng. There are much bigger ginseng in the center. Do you know that the older the ginseng the better is a myth? Ginseng are usually harvested with the interval of 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th year. Once you harvested your ginseng, that plot of land cannot be used to plant crops anymore because ginseng has sucked out all its nutrients. That's one of the reason why it's so expensive.

Art pieces by the sidewalk.

2nd stop of the day was Baogan center. They sell capsules made from a plant which claims to be able to cleanse you liver. Yeah, something like that.

Traditional artwork by the parking lot.

After a duty free makeup store and seaweed factory, we arrived here for lunch.

Got to try their authentic bibimbap. However it's not as tasty as I expected. There's lack of sesame oil and ketchup or whatever sauce they put. There's a Korean restaurant called Sa Rang Chae opposite Penang Chinese Girls' High School which serves better bibimbap alongside with other tasty dishes. Highly
recommended if you want to try authentic Korean dish because the tauke soh is a Korean herself.

There's a pork stew with loads of veggies to eat with the bibimbap, thank God for this.

3 more days to go and I was getting tired of Korean food already. I am now blogging in August and it has been 4 months since I ate any Korean food.

We were then brought to Ewha women street and instead of shopping, we explored the university which is above the stretch of cosmetic shops. Can you guess what this "longkang" (drain) is?

They are actually lecture halls. Cool right?

This faculty really looks like Hogwarts. All I need is a black robe and a broomstick.

So goth!

We took tons of pictures here with all sorts of poses and wonder what will the students think of us. I presume like a couple of monkey tourists from the jungle.

A view from the side of the garden. Anyway, the garden area has an awful smell because their sewage system is just beneath.

Okay, bye! I'm going to class!

Kidding! I have no mood to study anymore after I graduated in 2011. I majored in software engineering but sadly did not put my knowledge to good use at all and basically just flushed them down the toilet. Anyway, we walked back to Ewha street of cosmetics to shop for skincare. I did not purchase any cosmetic items such as lipsticks, eye shadow, eyeliner etc. because Korea is more famous for its skincare products.

I ran up to this spot and quickly pose for a picture and the promoter was like "What the.."

G Dragon with his red lips! He is the first male artist promoting lipstick.

We bought about 6 pair of cute socks and gave them as souvenirs (rofl) because they were darn cheap. If I could recall, they were 1000won per pair which is only RM3.

Can't help laughing when thinking about our attempt to shoot in the middle of the street till the cars have to avoid us. Bianne!

The train station looks kinda empty.

On our way to Gimpo domestic airport, we stumbled upon the world cup stadium. Dad told me he has been in before but our tour did not include this.

Very big and spacious for a domestic airport.

We bought tickets from Eastarjet. There were lots of domestic flights similar to Firefly available here. You can just buy on the spot like buying a bus ticket but it's advised to book few days ahead.

Our flight was at 3:55pm. It costs around 200,000won for 1 adult on a round trip Gimpo-Jeju-Gimpo.

There's a huge Korean drum near the departure area.

And a traditional carriage too.

View outside the window. Similar to Penang International Airport but twice the size.

It was very crowded inside with limited leg space like Air Asia but the ceiling was pretty. Don't care lah, only 1 hour journey.

Arrived at Jeju airport an hour later. The landing strip is immensely near the sea.

Our first museum cum gallery in Jeju. Trick Art Museum has ice carving class, ice museum, 360° cinema, 3D art museum and many more. Entrance fee is 8,000won and opening hours 9am to 7pm but I swear we were the last group to get out at 9pm. Notice I have removed my wooly jacket. Temperature was alot different here. It was about 23°C. Warm and humid and green leaves everywhere.

I dislike this instructor. He was unfriendly and strict. We were treated like school kids.

Start carving! It was not easy.

Yum seng! Kampai! I don't know how to say cheers in Korean....if not mistaken is it gunbae?

After the ice carving class, we went to North Pole...jk.

Haha...it's just a huge freezer with beautiful structures similar to the snow walk at i-City. After a bad experience in i-City which forced me to run out after 10 minutes (I did rent their jacket), we were well prepared with thick inner clothing and wrapped our feet with at least 2 pairs of socks. Also thanks to the cold weather from Seoul.

Inside the igloo. We had to wait awhile before entering because it smelled like someone has farted inside. There was a group of family who went in before we reached.

What would you like for a drink?

The only viewable photo from countless attempts. My heart had to dropped don't know how many times just for this picture. Hubby has to slide down many times too but all the photos failed.

Crouching tiger hidden dragon?

We had dinner in the museum at 7pm. Looks spicy, right? But it 's just fish in thick tomato sauce which taste exactly like the Ayam Brand canned sardine.

Side dishes. I love the fried glass noodles.

Purple rice.

You are not in Korea if you do not try to wrap their crispy lettuce with meat and veggies.

Next up, we went to experience the 360° cinema. No photos allowed but I will describe briefly to you. We chose to watch Poseidon as it was less scary. It took about 15mins to half and hour only. You will be given a 3D glasses then you will enter a room covered with projector screens all around you and you will sit on rotating chairs like those in bars. The animation was great and detailed but it was just a 3D cartoon which screens 360°. Overall it was surreal and wished Hollywood can research on making a 360° movie, that would be awesome!

We
then entered 3D trick art museum and this was one of the first of the
hundred photos we've taken here. No caption needed for following
pictures below. Enjoy...

Met giant teddies at the lobby and couldn't resist to take pictures with them.

They even have a lounge for 7-Eleven. Cool!

Beautiful night view outside our window that made me realize one thing...our hotel must be the tallest building in town lol. We had instant noodles for supper and other packet snacks and not forgetting banana milk from the 7-Eleven at the lobby. Good night and see you tomorrow as we tour around the island.